A step-by-step guide on how to connect your obsidian vault that is stored on Github to your iOS device.

The obsidian-git plugin works for iOS and Android, although it claims on their github repository that it is unreliable and in some cases, simply does not work.

I tried many of the options and guides discussed online, but after hours of work, only the steps I'm sharing here worked for me.

Cloning the git repo to iPhone

1. Install Working Copy
2. Clone your repository to your iPhone

3. You should now be able to view your repository within the Working Copy interface.

Note: I ran into issues when including the .obsidian directory in my git repo. There are plugins that work on desktop that are not supported on mobile, resulting in mobile-specific bugs. Sometimes crashing the application and making the vault unusable on mobile.

I recommend removing this directory from source when using this method to sync vaults between devices.

Instead, maintain two .obsidian directories, one for your mobile environment and one for your desktop environment.

Importing the repo into Obsidian

1. Install & open Obsidian on your mobile device.
2. Create new vault. DO NOT toggle store in iCloud.

3. Copy your repository downloaded by Working Copy and paste it into your newly created vault.

You may need to enable the Working Copy location to see it's files. This is shown in the gif.

5. With this pasted over, you should now be able to see your repository in Obsidian.

Enabling Obsidian Git plugin

1. Create a personal access token from Github
2. Install and enable the Obsidian Git community plugin
3. Input your Github username and personal access token

4. Adjust the base path to represent our directory structure. In this case, blog-nuxt-content is the base directory of the git repo.

5. With a successful Github connection, you should now see a few new Authentication/commit author settings. Input your desired commit author name and email address

6. You should now be able to run git commands from your iOS device.

Inspiration

I run my blog through Obsidian. Obsidian-git allows for automatic commit-and-sync functionality that keeps my writing backed up in Github on a regular interval. I combine this with Github Actions to continuously deploy my writing to my blog.

It's a nice and fluid system that works well for me.

Extending this to work with Obsidian on my phone is a blessing. Now I can write my thoughts on the go, which is ideal.

The easier I can document my thoughts, the better.

Resources

Credit to these resources that helped me along the way.

• Opening an existing vault on IOS
• The Easiest Way to Connect Your Obsidian Vault with Github
• The Easiest Way to Setup Obsidian Git (4 Minutes) Video

Tech stack

This solution probably works with your device, I'm just sharing the explicit details of what I have.

• iPhone 13 Pro Max
• iOS v18.1
• Obsidian v1.7.5.
• Working Copy v6.1.8